The Worn Little Chest
I arrived at the library.
I could feel the librarian's eyes on me, a little startled. Fair enough. The last time I'd come, I had pulled every book off the A shelves and flipped through each one. To anyone watching, I must have looked like some weirdo who never actually read—just whipped the books open and snapped them shut.
But there was nothing else for it. This time I started at the B shelves and tore through them without restraint.
Whirr—thump. Whirr—thump.
My speed-reading had gotten even faster. These days I was finishing an ordinary book in about thirty seconds.
Before I knew it, I had cleared the entire B shelf. Only then did the hunger to read sink back to a level I could bear. Odds and ends of information welled up in my head like new flesh closing over a wound.
A bout of speed-reading left me as drained as if I had been running for over an hour, and I had to rest. I dropped onto a nearby sofa, boneless.
Flump.
Seated, I took out the red ginseng extract I had ordered the day before. I had bought a fairly expensive one, and sure enough the blue lines running through it were thicker than in the extract the HR manager had given me.
Slurp, slurp.
As I sucked it down, a good share of the fatigue seemed to lift. If even this extract did that much, truly old ginseng—or wild ginseng—must be something else entirely. The dried ginseng my coworker Joo Chaeyeon had given me before had worked even better. It was far more satisfying than the fullness after a good meal, and more potent than the ginseng I had bought at the department store near the office.
The quality of the blue energy pooling in my stomach was simply on another level.
The blue lines from the extract and the department-store ginseng had only looked impressive. The moment they entered my body, they scattered. The lines from the dried ginseng, by contrast, lingered in my gut for quite a while before they faded. More precisely, a little above the stomach—around the solar plexus. They spun in a neat circle for a long time, then vanished.
All at once, I got greedy. I took out my phone and texted my coworker, Joo Chaeyeon.
The reply came before long.
Bzzzzzzzzzt.
I closed my eyes, ignoring Chaeyeon's last text. Tomorrow was something to look forward to. What kind of blue lines would be waiting for me?
The next morning at seven, I arrived at Dong Seoul Terminal. Joo Chaeyeon had gotten there first and was waiting. I had only ever seen her in a suit; in casual clothes, she looked like a different person.
"Hey."
Chaeyeon smirked.
"Han Jiwoo, I can hear your eyeballs spinning from over here. My off-duty look is pretty sexy, huh?"
She twisted her bare legs this way and that, striking a pose.
"?"
"...Forget it. I'm not even going to say it. Let's just get on the bus. I already bought the tickets. You said you've got deliveries this afternoon, right? You work late all week and don't even rest on the weekend, and you're still doing it? Impressive. Really impressive."
She talked the entire bus ride without pausing for breath.
"Hey, but did you actually go on a blind date? For real?"
"..."
"Come on, you on a blind date... What does she do? What's her job? Is she prettier than me?"
"..."
Strangely enough, that put me at ease. Chaeyeon's chatter took a good bite out of the urge to read. After about an hour and a half on the bus, we reached Gapyeong.
"See that mountain? That's where Mom runs the ginseng farm."
The place she pointed to was a neighborhood hill, a little over four hundred meters at most.
"Great. Let's go."
"Just trust your unnie and follow along."
She was a surprisingly good climber. From what she told me, the elite image was misleading—she had been born in the countryside and grown up there for a long time.
"Whew. See that? That's the ginseng field Mom tends."
I already knew. Before we had even reached the mid-slope, blue lines were spraying in every direction like a Laser Beam festival. The lines from the red ginseng extract and the dried ginseng were nothing by comparison. They tangled and knotted so thickly I could see them with perfect clarity.
"How much for a kilo of ginseng?"
Chaeyeon clicked her tongue.
"Huh? Why would you buy it? Don't you know about coworker love? About you-and-me love? I already told Mom and stashed a whole box. Your unnie's amazing, right?"
"Amazing. But it's not 'you-and-me love.' It's 'love of country,' isn't it?"
"...Figure it out yourself."
Her earlobes were red as she scrambled on ahead. Beside the ginseng field stood a small farm hut.
"Mom! I'm here!"
Chaeyeon knocked on the door.
Bang. Bang.
The door opened, and a woman in her early-to-mid sixties stepped out.
"Aigoo, Chaeyeon! You're already here?"
"Yeah! There was an early bus. This is Han Jiwoo, the coworker from the company I told you about."
I bowed politely.
"Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Han Jiwoo, Chaeyeon's coworker. Thank you for having me even though you must be busy."
Chaeyeon's mother beamed and caught both of my hands.
"Aigoo, just like Chaeyeon said—what a fine-looking young man. Welcome."
Chaeyeon suddenly shrieked.
"Mom! When! When did I ever say that!"
Her mother laughed, warm and easy.
"Oh? So this coworker isn't the one you were talking about?"
"N-no, that part is right—aaaaagh!"
Chaeyeon clamped her hands over her ears and fled into the hut. Her mother watched with a smile, then turned to me.
"Please look after my girl. She looks like that on the outside, but she's softhearted."
In truth, among the new hires Chaeyeon was the one doing the best, and I was the one who ought to be making a good impression on her. Even so, I nodded.
"I'll do my very best, ma'am."
"First, why don't you come in? I figured you might not have eaten, so I started on breakfast. I just need to set it out."
"I'd be grateful."
I stepped carefully inside. The hut was surprisingly spacious. There was even a bathroom and a kitchen.
I sat on the sofa beside Chaeyeon. She immediately smacked my forearm.
"Mom was joking, so don't get the wrong idea! Got it?"
"Yeah."
"...You agreed that fast? Now I'm annoyed for no reason... Okay..."
I asked the sulking Chaeyeon, carefully.
"By the way... your mother looks a little tired."
"Huh? Y-yeah... I was kind of shocked too. I was here about three weeks ago. Some law changed so you can put a bathroom and a kitchen in a farm hut, and I came to help Mom. She definitely wasn't like this then..."
Saying she looked tired was putting it mildly. Her mother's face had dried out like a skull. Her arms and legs looked as if they might snap if she took a wrong step. Red Lines covered her entire body. And not only Red Lines.
Black Lines... and...
A yellow line. One long yellow line was coiled around her mother's body. There was only a single strand, but it was five times thicker than the others. A foul unease welled up, and something anxious lapped at the air.
Something's here.
I pretended to head for the bathroom and glanced around. That was when I found it. In one corner of the living room sat a small, worn chest.
A faint yellow line clung to the chest's surface like a coating, shifting as it pressed tight against the wood. It didn't feel anxious or unpleasant, so I soon put it out of my mind.
When I came back to the living room, a feast had been laid out. Not just the rice—every side dish had ginseng in it. Ginseng rice, ginseng greens, seasoned ginseng, ginseng kimchi, and more. Blue lines everywhere.
"It's nothing much, but please enjoy."
"This is a full feast. Thank you. I'll eat well."
I picked up a spoon and started shoveling rice. I am not usually this much of a glutton. But the moment I saw a table practically swimming with blue lines, instinct moved my mouth first.
Munch, munch.
Chaeyeon's mother smiled wide.
"Your coworker certainly knows how to eat."
Chaeyeon looked a little embarrassed, but pleased as she answered.
"Hey... you're going to make yourself sick... Slow down. Here's some ginseng water."
"Ah, thanks. Ma'am, this is really delicious."
"Aigoo, I don't have any real skill... Thank you for eating so well."
The blue lines that came in with the ginseng slid down my esophagus and began piling up furiously at the solar plexus, just below my chest. I was genuinely glad I had come—a million times over. There was no way I could have found blue lines this pure in the city.
"Wow... I really ate well, ma'am."
"Would you like more?"
Chaeyeon waved a hand for me.
"Mom, if he eats any more he's going to die."
It was already my third bowl. I was a little thrown myself. The blue lines kept pouring in without end. The more I ate, the more my limbs felt packed full of them, so I had kept eating without a break.
"I really don't think I should eat any more..."
"Aigoo, it's nice to see someone eat so well. Looks like good fortune. I'll bring dessert. I've got cookies made from dried ginseng. They're very good. They're in the shed next door. Wait just a moment."
"Sorry? Ah, ma'am...?"
But she went out without looking back. Chaeyeon was watching me with a strangely satisfied face.
"You little—I didn't think you had it in you. You've got some manners, huh?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Didn't you eat three bowls just to look good for my mom?"
"Yeah. That's right."
If someone could grow ginseng carrying blue lines this pure, making a good impression was exactly what I ought to do. Chaeyeon's face went red.
"Y-you... a fastball... just slamming it straight in like that... that's cheating... Anyway... I set some ginseng aside for you out front... Take it when we go...!"
"Yeah."
The shed was right beside the hut. But more than twenty minutes passed, and Chaeyeon's mother still had not come back.
"Something's off."
Chaeyeon and I went outside. The shed door stood wide open. Something cold and unpleasant brushed across my back. I caught her arm at once.
"You stay in the house."
"B-but..."
"Huh? O-okay..."
Seeing how serious I was, she swallowed dryly and nodded hard. I drew one deep breath and headed for the shed, gathering the blue lines circulating through my body into my index finger as I walked. I was ready to send them out at any moment.
Thump. Thump.
I stood beside the door and leaned in only my head to look.
Brrrrrr.
Hundreds of yellow lines were shaking violently.